Large pieces of office furniture such as desks are usually manufactured and shipped to the customer in the form of their component parts, which are then assembled to complete the furniture. For example, a typical 30".times.60" metal desk has a pair of pedestals to which the desk top must be attached after the three component parts have arrived at either the wholesaler's, the retailer's, or the ultimate customer's location. For the purpose, a separate package of screws, together with an instruction sheet, accompanies the several components when shipped, and the purchaser finds he must align the screw openings in the top flanges at the sides of each pedestal with correspondingly spaced openings in the underside of the desk top, and insert and tighten the screws to attach the parts.
Assuming the parts have been prefabricated accurately so that all of the corresponding screw openings align with each other to receive the screws, such conventional assembly is time-consuming and, because the use of a tool is involved, requires the services of a mechanic to assure proper fit and tightness of assembly. In some circumstances, the buyer of the furniture may not even have the proper size screwdriver on hand.
Moreover, if at a later time the pedestals must be removed to change the desk from being a desk of one-hand to being of the other, or to substitute a typing-return module for one of the desk pedestals, these tightened screws must be loosened and removed to disassemble the desk. Such is considered a laborious task, also involving the use of tools and the skill of a mechanic.
The foregoing disadvantges of the conventional technique for assembling or disassembling a desk are in addition to the difficulty of manufacturing the components accurately, so that the respective screw holes align with each other as the parts to be assembled are brought together, as aforesaid.